Building an email subscriber list can be an effective way to increase engagement with your audience. When people subscribe to your email list you get more control over what content you deliver to them and when. It also becomes possible to coordinate larger groups of people, which is very important when launching new products.

Rules of etiquette are important in marketing and essential to establishing the type of connection you want with your audience. I think that may be why I’m surprised at some of the tactics used online to invite people to optin. Often the trade-off is attention for courtesy. Methods that are sure to get attention often lack courtesy, while courteous methods to get attention often produce much lower response rates. So what is the ideal balance?

Don’t interrupt

One rule of etiquette, which I think is just good manners, is to never interrupt someone. When someone arrives at your website, it’s typically because they’re interested in your content or what you have to offer. Any optin tactic that interrupts them while they consume that content may come across as inconsiderate.

I created the optincrusher to make it possible to get attention without interrupting what the user is doing. When the optincrusher slides up from the bottom, this gets the users attention, but it doesn’t obscure the content they’re consuming. A little ongoing motion with the arrow keeps the new offer in the user’s mind.

A final note is to make sure that the offer or invitation you make in the optincusher is consistent with the content on the site where it’s being used. It’s wise to also make sure that it’s as compelling as possible (i.e. perceived as valuable). Once you get your visitor’s attention, you may only have one chance to get the optin. Relevance and value are the keys.